


Nightmare

by universal_reno



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Josh is a good boyfriend, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Short One Shot, Traumatized Markus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:31:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universal_reno/pseuds/universal_reno
Summary: Markus has nightmares brought on by stress. Josh is there to help him through.





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Have some super short fluff. I was going to make this porn but it ended up cute instead. Josh and Markus are my current favorite ship from this game ~~and that's totally not just because Josh was the only one of Markus's friends I managed to keep alive~~ ♥ I'm not sure if it ever said in the game what kind of android Josh actually is but I think he'd be a good medic.

****Markus had never fully left Jericho. Since the revolution he’d been able to provide a much more comfortable and dignified home for his people, but when he was especially stressed or exhausted (which lately was pretty much always) he found his thoughts and his dreams dragged back to the night the old ship had been destroyed. The memory of the shooting and the fires and the screaming had been integrated into his programming on such a fundamental level that he couldn’t have deleted the images if he’d wanted to.

Tonight it was North’s face that jolted him from sleep mode. She was on the ground damaged and frightened and looking to him for help that he was always a few seconds too slow to provide, just as she had been in the final moments of her life. Markus sat up in bed and pressed his fists against his eyes as though he could force out the image. He was panting, cooling system kicked into overdrive to counteract the heat generated by trying to process the same images over and over on loop.   

He kicked off the duvet and drew his knees up to his chest even though he knew the position would likely make the heat buildup worse. Beside him Josh stirred and then blinked his eyes open.

“Markus? Baby, what’s wrong? Was it another nightmare?”

Markus startled at the cool touch on his shoulder but quickly remembered where he was and relaxed ever so slightly.

“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.” He uncurled so he could lean down and press a kiss to Josh’s temple, but the other wasn’t buying it for a second.

“You’re burning up… Must’ve been a bad one, huh?” Josh sat up and wrapped a protective arm around his partner’s shoulders. It wasn’t his first time dealing with this situation, and as much as he wished he could make it stop he knew all he could really do was offer support.

“North” Markus offered by way of explanation, and even with just one word the tears were obvious in his voice. Josh managed not to wince at the name. As much as he’d appreciated her dedication to the cause during life his lover’s continued obsession with a dead woman stung him in a way he’d only recently been able to pinpoint as jealousy.

“I'm so sorry. I miss her too.” If Markus picked up on any hint of insincerity he hadn’t managed to mask he didn’t let on about it. He only turned so he could press his face against Josh’s chest. “You wanna show me?”

He felt Markus nod and allowed his hand to fade to its underlying white so they could interface. It honestly still creeped him  out a bit. The white plastic reminded him of the way bone looked peaking out from a wound and that brought its own memories that he wasn’t about to burden anyone else with. But Markus always seemed to find it soothing so he dealt with the discomfort.  

He rubbed his thumb in small circles on the back of Markus’s neck as the shared memory began to loop through his own mind. But he was used to it by now and forced it into a lower priority process so he could focus on gathering as much information about Markus’s condition as possible. What he found didn’t please him. Markus’s stress level was outside of optimal operating parameters but was steadily dropping now. His power reserves, however, were at 21% and reported 8 days since the last complete recharge and 4 days since he’d last entered full hibernation mode which was critical to remedy everyday wear and stress.

Josh hugged Markus a bit tighter. _We’ve gotta find a way to stop this. You can’t keep doing this to yourself._ He knew Markus had registered the thought even though he’d never spoken it.

_I know. I’m sorry._

_Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault._

Josh tried to project as much love and reassurance through their connection as he could manage. His programming shielded him from any serious disturbance the still looping memory could otherwise have caused. He’d been designed as a combat medic, a role that Cyberlife had discovered well before his manufacture required robust countermeasures at the firmware level to prevent critical software instability.   

Little by little Markus relaxed against him until Josh’s embrace was the only thing keeping him sitting up. He lowered them both back against the pillows and Markus gradually drew back from the connection as the urge to enter sleep mode became more pressing.

“Thanks” he mumbled sleepily against Josh’s neck. Josh gently tilted his chin up so he could kiss him.

“Of course. I got you. You know you can always talk to me about stuff like this, right?”

Markus was too exhausted for anything more than the slightest of nods before sleep overtook him. Josh smiled down at him but it was a worried expression that didn’t reach his eyes. He interfaced with him again, Markus offering no resistance while he slept. Josh thought back to the times he and Markus had spent together, and to the times before that when the fighting and the dying had stopped for awhile and he’d felt safe and accepted with the other members of his squad, both human and android.  He knew didn’t have enough happy memories to keep Markus going all night but he’d give all he could as long as he could. It was the least he could do.


End file.
